All of these dead trees
by Lil' Djinn
Summary: Anna and Castiel stood in front of the dead trees. “You have to help him, Castiel. He needs to know he is worthy.” Post 4x16. R&R!


**Title:** All of these dead trees.

**Author:** Lil' Djinn

**Disclaimer: **Last time I checked, the name on my birth certificate was not Eric Kripke !!!

**Summary: **Anna and Castiel stood in front of the dead trees. "You have to help him, Castiel. He needs to know he is worthy."

**A/N: **Just a little angelic conversation! Takes place some times after « A head on a pin. ». God (no pun intended), this episode … !!! And don't forget to feed the muses ... they're starving !!!

**Beta reader : **the great Marinawings, as always. I don't knwo what I would do without her and her help !!!

Thanks again Marina. **:)**

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So long and ashen, like poles swaying in the gray sky. Trees. A myriad of trees standing in front of him. A forest of dead trees, steady and immobile, towering around him in a profound silence. Castiel stood here, his eyes fixed on these lifeless trees all around him for a long time. The angel had come here hoping the silence could help him, but voices and images flashed again and again behind his eyelids every time he closed his eyes.

Strange feelings clenched his heart and made him uneasy, some things he knew he should not feel. Dean's face, bloody, bruised and so hopeless stared at him with no mercy, and no matter what the angel tried, it didn't make it go away. Not even his prayers. He didn't understand all of this, this responsibility, this guiltiness he felt toward the human. Such behavior was not normal for an angel. He was a warrior, a soldier of God who never knew pity or hesitation on the battlefield. And they were on a battlefield. War had begun and there were no place for this kind of weakness.

Maybe it was because of Uriel … his betrayal had hurt him more than he thought. Oh, they were not friends; but they were brothers, and more, brothers in arms and that mattered to him. Uriel had betrayed his people, but more, he had betrayed their Father.

Thinking of Him brought him back to Dean Winchester. For a long time, this man had been a mystery to him. How a man who didn't and couldn't believe in his Father's Wills could fight so bravely. During the time they passed together, his lack of faith never ceased to amaze the angel and at the same time, the man never stopped fighting. No matter what, his memories from hell, his sins, his guilt, his brother's betrayal, all of these threats, he never stopped fighting. He didn't believe in God, but he kept on fighting for Him. Well, until now.

"I've never imagined you coming here."

Castiel tensed as he watched Anna move toward him.

"What do you want, Anna?" he asked coldly.

"I could ask you the same thing. What are you doing here Castiel?"

There was no anger, no resentment in her voice. Just a plain curiosity, but for Castiel it was almost worse. Maybe because he didn't have a good answer to give her.

"I came here to think," he told her finally, but he didn't take his eyes off the dead trees.

"To think about Dean, isn't it?" she guessed.

"I just came here for the calm and …

"You came to his grave Castiel!" she retorted at him. "You just came where his brother buried him".

Anna observed the long and dead trees all around her, waiting for Castiel's reply or maybe his denial but only silence greeted her.

"He needs your help, Castiel." she said finally. "You ought to tell him about this".

Castiel watched her as she spread her arms in front of her, but he remained desperately silent.

"He won't succeed without your help Castiel! Damnit, you have to …

"That's not my duty Anna, and you know it. I'm not a guardian; I'm a soldier, and my task is to lead Dean to …"

"But he needs it, don't you see it!" she protested with vehemence. "He has lost his faith, not in Our Father but in himself. He is so broken, lost and alone, and you know, like me, his brother cannot help him. Not now. He is gone too far with this demon girl to help him, but you could …

"I can't and I won't."

Castiel's affirmation made her turn to him suddenly, and for an instant, she glared daggers at him.

"You can't act like this Castiel! Not with him! … If you don't help him now, you know he will fail," she told him as she calmed down.

"I'm not like you, Anna." he reminded her coldly. "I'm not used to these human's feelings. And I don't want to. It's not my task."

"Maybe, but things are different now. You … We need Dean to end this war, but for the time being, he is not able to do it. You know I'm not allowed to be with him but _you_, you could."

"What do you want me to do Anna?' he asked dryly.

"Tell him … tell him about his father. Tell him Alastair did not torture his father to force him to break the first seal because he knew John was not a righteous man. Not as righteous as Dean. Tell him he is worthy. Tell him it didn't matter if he has no faith in God because _He_ believes in Dean. Tell him for the trees."

A cold wind stirred the trees and the gray and dry branches began to move slowly. It was a strange spectacle, these long dead trees swaying like a silent wave in font if the two angels.

"He needs to know this place was an empty field before. He needs to know those trees grew up the moment you brought him back! And it's not him, but you who made all of this."

It was right, and Castiel know it. Dean's return was God's creation, and like all of His creations, it was good, pure and beautiful. When he was pulled out from Hell, an immense forest appeared where he was buried, but the angel's powers, his raw and terrifying apparition in this world burned all of them. It ought to be a wonderful spectacle, long and strong trees stretching their green leaves toward the bright sky, but now, the scene in front of the angel screamed only death and destruction.

"Dean doesn't need my help," Castiel declared finally. "That's not what we do. Not what I do. I just have one task, and I really intended to succeed in it."

Anna watched in silence as the other angel left the site. Dean was their last chance, but lots of angels couldn't see this truth. They were too deeply ingrained in their own world to accept that their destiny rested on only one man.

"I just hope you will realize he really needs you, Castiel. Before it is too late."

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**The end.**


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